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The first time it happens, it was an accident. The Warblers had all gotten together for a “mini-reunion,” although they were just together earlier at graduation. They met at the Lima Bean, the ‘unofficial Warbler hang out’. Everyone was there, including Kurt, who had just recently transferred back to McKinley and still had another week of school.
No one could say who was the first to start the song, but the harmonization that followed was pure instinct. By the time they reached the chorus, Jon was creating the perfect beat box for the song, and everyone was blending together as if they had rehearsed it for months.
'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep
The ending was a little shaky, but it sounded good. One of the baristas, who’d worked there long enough to know that when the Warblers came in singing was inevitable, was clapping and laughing as the song ended.
***
The second time it happened was exactly one year later. Everyone, even Kurt and Blaine, were there. This time it was planned, at least sort of. After the incident with Sebastian and the tainted slushie, some of the friendships were still on the rocks. Blaine almost didn’t go, but in the end Kurt had convinced him, if only to cut ties errantly.
But that isn’t what happened. All of the Warblers who were still at Dalton were overly apologetic and said that they had missed Blaine. They also received quite the lecture from David and Wes, who even got out his gavel out.
“How could you have let Sebastian take over the Warblers? Did we instill no sense of propriety in you?” David yelled.
“No, more than that, how could you have gone with him when he suggested injuring Kurt?” Wes wasn’t yelling, but his overly calm, stern voice was much worse, “Kurt is one of us; once a Warbler, always a warbler. How could you? Especially you, Jon, you were his accomplice.”
Wes just shook his head and everyone looked sheepish. Trent was the first to speak up, “We’re really sorry, Blaine and Kurt. We never intended it to go that far, we just thought it would be a little friendly rivalry… in an empty parking garage, at midnight…”
“What the fuck?!” David interjects; Wes elbows him in the side.
“I’m really sorry, Kurt. I never wanted to hurt you. I always thought of you as my friend. Blaine, I never wanted you to get hurt, please forgive me.” Jon is near tears when he finishes speaking.
Kurt doesn’t say anything; he just gets up and walks over to him. He puts his arm around Jon’s shoulder and pulls him in to a hug. When Kurt pulls back, Blaine singsongs, “You ain’t never had a friend like me.”
The Warblers chuckle, but Jon is the first one to catch on, responding, “Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves. Scheherezad-ie had a thousand tales.”
Before long, everyone is singing a Disney song, in perfect eight part harmony, even though they hadn’t sung together in a year.
Can your friends do this?
Do your friends do that?
Do your friends pull this out their little hat?
Can your friends go, poof?
Well, looky here
Can your friends go, Abracadabra, let 'er rip
And then make the sucker disappear?
When the song ends, they are all laughing and clapping each other’s shoulders. The rest of the crowd at the Lima Bean didn’t quite understand; but a few people pulled out cell phones to record the impromptu concert.
***
The third time it happens, it’s actually is planned. About a month before the date, a Facebook message is started by Trent asking what song they are going to sing at their impromptu coffee house performance.
Jeff points out that it wouldn’t be impromptu if they planned it. Nick counters with why not, flash mobs practice before the performance, they should make it like a flash mob kind of thing. Everyone agrees and then spends the next 29 days fighting over the song they should sing. Eventually Wes suggests “Breakeven” by The Script, and just like that, it’s decided.
Everyone meets up at 2:30 on a Wednesday. Kurt flies back from New York, Wes and David drive up from school. The only person who is missing this year is Jon, who was studying abroad in China.
The song goes off perfectly, thanks to the slight bit of practice they had. After the performance, they agree that the impromptu coffee house performance will be an annual event.
***
Over the years, everyone missed a performance or two. Kurt missed the fourth year because Isabella asked him to accompany her on a trip to Milan. Wes missed the fifth year because of a summer internship. Trent missed the ninth year, because he was on his honeymoon. The first time Blaine missed was when he and Kurt adopted their first child, during the eleventh year.
The next time they were all together was on the 20th anniversary of the first impromptu coffee house concert. They decided that they would sing some of the classics songs from their Dalton days. Blaine arranged a mash-up of Teenage Dream, Hey Soul Sister, and Somewhere Only We Know.
The Impromptu Coffee House Concert turned into a reunion weekend. Everyone brought their significant others and children. They ended up spending the entire weekend catching up and singing all of their old favorites.
***
On the 37th anniversary, there were quite a few Warblers missing, especially since Nick’s wife died unexpectedly. Blaine took lead on a Broadway classic, “Luck Be a Lady”. The harmonies were not as perfect as they had been, but they still sounded amazing. It had become somewhat of a public tradition, and everyone in Lima and Westerville knew about it, so the coffee shop was packed.
There was one person in attendance who didn’t know about the tradition, a theater producer from Chicago. She had gone to the coffee shop, no longer called the Lima Bean, to get some work done, when she walked right in on a group of 20 men in their upper 50s harmonizing. She couldn’t believe her eyes or her ears. They sounded amazing.
After the performance she went up to Kurt and asked him about the performance.
“We all went to high school together, longer ago than we’d like to admit.” Kurt chuckled. Blaine walked over and slung his arm over his husband’s shoulder. “We meet here every year and do an impromptu performance. This is the thirty-seventh year.”
“I’m blown away. You all sound amazing.” She said, “I would really love to have you all perform in venue with better acoustics.”
Blaine smiled, “We’d love to, but we all have families and jobs, we just get together once a year to sing here. Kurt and I are flying back to New York this evening.”
She thought for a moment, “Well, what about next year? That would give me plenty of time to get it arranged and advertise, and you all time to rehearse.”
Blaine looked at Kurt, excitement obvious in his eyes. Kurt responded, “Let me ask everyone, and I’ll get back to you? Can I get your card?”
***
The 38th annual Impromptu Coffee House Concert was held in the Ohio Theater, the home of the Ohio Symphony Orchestra. Kurt made everyone new Dalton uniforms, considering most of them had either outgrown or thrown away their original blazers.
The concert featured a variety of voices, styles, and eras; including a duet between Kurt and Blaine, “Come what May”. They sang for almost two hours to a sold out house. The audience couldn’t get enough, which is how the coffee house concert moved from the Lima Bean, which was renamed Bean Me, then went back to The Lima Bean, to the Ohio Theater. The annual concert, turned into a two week run every summer. The Warblers spent most of the late spring in rehearsals and traveling cross-country to be at both at their day jobs and rehearsals.
But it was for the love of music, and the love of performance; which is of course the reason they joined the Warblers in the first place.
Once a Warbler, always a Warbler.